Podcast · Episodes run roughly 30 to 45 minutes

Bad Community Advice

Seth Resler · Community Marketing Revolution Free Intermediate

Each episode sits a working community professional down to talk about the worst advice they followed and what it actually cost them, so you get war stories instead of theory. It is honest about the stuff that quietly hollows a community out: vanity metrics, gamification that fakes engagement, and free tiers that pull in the wrong behaviour. Listen for the pattern behind the specific mistakes, then check your own community against it.

• Chasing vanity metrics and swag buys surface activity, not belonging, and the difference is what determines whether a community lasts.
• Gamification often manufactures shallow participation rather than real connection, so leaderboards can mask a community that is already dying.
• Free or unclear membership models frequently attract the wrong behaviour, and practitioners here share the concrete moment they realised it.